Cherry Blossom Ending
by Faircrown
Summary: With her clan wiped off the face of the earth, she was forced to relocate to Konohagakure. She learns to adapt to her new home and slowly but reluctantly started to fall in love. He was a man full of vengeance and his quest for power may blind him but Sakura felt like it was her duty to love a man so deeply hurt from his past, present and future. Rewritten!


**Cherry Blossom Ending**

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter 1 : **_A field of dead flowers_

_**(rewritten 30/10/14)**_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_No beta. If you're interested to correct the eye-twitching grammar mistakes found in this chapter (and maybe in the future chapters too) you can PM me. Also, this story has been rewritten because I didn't like the way it was turning out. The original version had a lot of support but unfortunately, I couldn't do it so I rewrote it. I just really didn't like the way it was turning out as I was writing the beginning of chapter 3 and I was so bothered by it that I turned away from this story and went to write **Father Daughter**_** _Duo_** _instead to release my tension. It's so funny because it's only the first few chapters and already I'm frustrated. Lol. Anyway, after awhile I started to get back into it. Only I decided to change almost everything. __It's not as different as before and the plot line will be mostly the same (it hasn't progressed far enough __before _for it to be clear anyway so it's not really a big deal) but there are noticeable changes. Hopefully, it doesn't bother anybody and I'm sorry for the inconvenience. 

_Please enjoy this story. (^_^)_

* * *

She was thirsty and her head was severely throbbing. Her mouth tasted acrid, her eyes heavy and tight and her chest burned. A noiseless sound was banging in the walls of her ears and the gentle motion of wind drifting softly in the air was attacking her well beyond her pain threshold. The unforgiving light stabbed into her retinas and she felt like she had eaten sand for breakfast and proceeded to push it down with acid. Her back ached, her limbs were mangled and she felt positively miserable.

She tried to move but she didn't have any strength in her body to lift up a finger. Even lifting up the lids of her eyes felt laborious. When they finally but slowly opened, she was met with the sight of a lush canopy of rich dark green. Had she moved the battle elsewhere? Because this was certainly not the last place she remembered being in. The last memory she had was when she had been fighting the group of bloodlust men in her clan's village compound.

It seems like she was in a forest but the trees seemed different than the ones she was accustomed to. The shade of green seems darker and the barks looked rougher and thicker. The air felt heavy and its weight crushed down on her. She took a shallow breath and instantly her sense of smell was loaded with the copper scent of her blood telling her that she was bleeding from all over the place. The taste even flooded her mouth. She shifted but the briefest movement caused her immense pain, as if a hundred knives had stabbed and forced her to lay still.

She felt bad. She felt really bad.

She tried to remember how and why she had ended up like this. Where is she? Is she dying? Is everyone safe? Then, a cold dread washed over her and she felt panic seeped into her system. They came hunting for their blood. Not one clansmen were spared. Old, young, strong and weak; everyone fell prey to the monsters of the Kaguya clan.

It was morning when most of them were out and about following schedules of the day which includes farming, healing and doing daily chores. Children were playing and learning and the adults were working to support their families and clan. The sun was bright and many had smiles upon their faces.

Then, a chilling cry came from beyond the gates grabbing the attention of some while the rest continued on dismissing it as the cry of a scared patient. When the next set of screaming came, everybody stilled and turned their heads towards the source of those horrible noises with silent alarm. A group of children playing near the entrance of the village compound quickly scrambled into the arms of their worried parents.

Kenichi, one of the Haruno guards and amongst the strongest, then suddenly came crawling from the gates bleeding with sharp white sticks impaled all over his body.

"_Run_," he said before dropping to the ground, dead.

It was chaos. They came out of nowhere, brandishing crude bone-like weapons screaming for her clan's blood. Clad in white uniforms, they quickly forced in and within minutes had severed many heads and impaled countless of bodies. They came to eat, they said. And Haruno blood was on the menu.

Everybody started screaming and running. Those who could fight, fought and those who could heal, healed. But it wasn't easy. They were outnumbered – the Haruno clan was small after all – and there were more healers and civilians than fighters. Sakura herself had been in the heart of the battle being the only few who could heal and fight at the same time. Despite being confident in her abilities, she was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.

She remembered Hideki being ripped to shreds, Naoki's eyes and tongue being gauged out and Masaki being stabbed with the bones of their enemy again and again and _again_. She remembered hearing the others roaring and yelling, trying with all their might to defend their clan but quickly, their determined shouts turned to pained wails and quieted down into deathly silence.

There were Daichi and her; the only fighters left. He had been surrounded by them after pushing a bleeding civilian Haruno out of the way… did he make it? And the others? Were they able to escape?

For some reason, she had a feeling that nobody did. There were too many of them. Pain and fear reigned her for that moment and she started crying.

Was this how her life was going to end? Slowly dying with the thought of her clan's demise in the hands of bloodthirsty demons? She was alone, replaying the moments of her clan members' death over and over again in the middle of nowhere. She tried to forget but couldn't. It had only been moments ago… just moments ago…

She felt wet, from her blood or the damp earth, she wasn't sure and the wind was picking up aggressively surrounding her in immediate coldness. The light was dimming and she was slowly encompassed in darkness. The leaves rustled and the sound of a twig being broken from a weight shook her. She clamped her eyes shut when she heard noises coming from the bushes. She was scared beyond belief. Her breathing quickened and she suddenly found herself gasping and choking. She wished she could close her mouth with her hands but she couldn't move!

If someone came (she let out a strangled gasp at the thought of a Kaguya man with deathly bones sprouting from his body) she wouldn't be able to defend herself and that made her angry but insanely terrified. Suddenly, she felt something. She could feel chakra coming from several strong sources and her mind instantly went haywire, a sudden tormenting darkness suddenly assaulting her mind and vision. She violently shook and desperately fought to remain in the realm of consciousness. She needed to get up!

Her fight didn't last long, however.

She blacked out.

Sakura felt something intrusive inside her body and unconsciously tried to push it out. It was unbearably hot and the more it stayed inside her the quicker her body tried to dispel it. However, she didn't know that the invasion of chakra inside her was meant to heal her injuries and she stubbornly fought it. She pushed and pushed, using the coolness of her own chakra against the blazing energy that was concentrated around her chest. She felt heavily suffocated by its weight.

She heard a sharp gasp and the burning heat instantly vanished but it came back a few seconds later with admonishment.

"Do not fight it."

She whimpered, feeling the burn return. Weakly lifting her hand, she tried to remove the source of that chakra blindly. She managed to grab a thick wrist but was unable to do anything to it due to her lack of strength. Realizing that it was useless, she resigned and pitifully let her hand drop back to her side.

She wanted to get up but her eyes remained stubbornly closed and unconsciousness kept coming back to claim her. It was only her fierce will that kept her from falling asleep, afraid that the next time she might not be able to wake up again.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed while she was lying still, waiting for the burning chakra and pain to subside. Her mind was a haze and her senses were distorted but still she was able to distinctly hear murmurs around her and feel the prickling stares. She wanted to do something, anything, but she only managed to groan and cry as they treated her wounds.

It was taking forever, and she was severely exhausted. Sleep was whispering temptation in her ears and she drowsily tried to block it. But her resistance rapidly weakened and by the time she felt the eager clutches of darkness tugging her, she had already let go.

* * *

_The sun heatedly glared at the earth from its centre position in the sky. Despite the blistering heat on her back, Sakura did not cease her pace. Instead, she gathered more chakra into her feet and focused on her path, intent on losing her pursuers. She created three illusionary clones and swiftly ordered them to move in different directions while running in unconformable patterns to throw the enemies off of her trail. _

_Never in her life had she ever been pursued nor pushed to the point that she had had to kill in order to live, so she mostly didn't know what she was doing. Logic and memories of some lessons she took scrambled to the front of her mind, urging her to do this and that in order to survive from the danger that was aggressively pursuing her. Whatever it was she was doing, she really hoped it was sufficient._

_She heard gleeful shouting from behind her and grimaced. She had been forced to run out of her compound when it was proving to be far too overwhelming to fight in a scene where she could see the Kaguya stepping carelessly on the dead body of her clan members that they had merrily slaughtered. It was sickening to see them pulling out their spinal columns and beating people to death with it with content smiles upon their faces._

_What kind of crazy people were they? _

_Sakura had failed to recognize them during the few minutes of the fight, shocked to the core from the sudden nightmare the day had suddenly plunged into. When she heard someone yelling their identity, she finally understood just what kind of fiends the Haruno was facing. She had heard of them before and the terror that they possessed. However, her meagre knowledge of them did not provide sufficient help in defending her clan. Sakura knew how to fight, and so did a number of martial arts practitioner in the clan but none of them were prepared for this. They were taken completely off guard._

_She briefly thought of the moments before her escape from the compound. When Daichi had fallen she found herself in the middle of the main street staring wide-eyed at the group that was slowly turning to her with bones breaking out of their skin and into their hands. No one else was still standing apart from her in that Haruno compound turned graveyard. She yelled desperately for her people but no one answered back so the Kaguya laughed._

_She fled._

_Breathing heavily, she swerved sharply to her left and hid behind a big tree carefully masking her presence. She wiped the hot tears on her face with the sleeve that was still intact and desperately tried to focus. _

_A group of three Kaguya had followed her while the others had taken the fake trails. She was glad that they had fallen for the clone copies of herself. To be honest, she hadn't expected that to work at all but the clones will last as long as they weren't attacked. They were just illusions after all and Sakura was glad that they couldn't see through it. She decided to just confront the Kaguya following her now that they were at an acceptable distance from the others._

_For a second there, she wondered if this was a right decision to do but she reasoned to herself that if she kept on running, she'll waste more chakra. Besides, the others will soon realize that they were following clones so they'll backtrack and track her. It was best if she could eliminate the ones following her now. Once she defeated them, it'll be easier for her to run without worrying for a bone white projectile to suddenly spear her back._

_She controlled her ragged breathing and made sure that she didn't miss any movements. Then, she heard a silent landing a few meters away from her position. Her trained ears tried to pick up more movements but she could only hear the silence of the forest. Frustrated and scared, she tried to even her breathing and focus on her surroundings again. Trouble was near and she could feel it._

_All of a sudden, a sharp object flew straight into her face. She lunged to the side in the nick of time and immediately jumped behind another tree. She wished she had a weapon with her but Sakura had never seen it fit to carry around a blade whilst in her formal attire or whenever she was in the compound for that matter. She had decided to wear a kimono for her visit to the shrine with her father today. She was on her way there to meet him when the attack suddenly happened. She never ever carried a weapon. Never in a million years would she imagine her clan being suddenly and viciously attacked. _

_She tried to sense her enemy's chakra to pinpoint their positioning but they were silent and quick so it took her by surprise when one of them suddenly appeared in front of her with a deranged shout. Surprised, Sakura barely managed to grab the skeletal weapon with both her hands and fought to keep it from puncturing her chest. With her strength, she breaks the bone weapon and kicked him in the abdomen causing him to skid backwards._

_Sakura expected her hands to bleed but the bone that was previously shaped like a sword had smooth edges with only the tip sharp and deadly. Good. She could use this as her weapon for the time being. They were skilled in kenjutsu, relying heavily on their swords and welded bone structures. Sakura noticed that only half of them could use their bloodline limit but still they fought well albeit savagely. If she had nothing to block with, she will suffer severe consequences. She was already injured enough as it is._

_She dodged a barrage of kunai and used her temporary weapon to deflect the others. Sensing a movement from behind her, she turned and blindly stabbed with the bone she held in her left hand. Satisfied to find it buried deeply into her enemy's shoulder, she proceeded to kick him causing him to backtrack with a pained growl. _

_Sakura rushed to him and tried to land a punch but he caught her wrist and twisted it harshly. Wincing, she counter-twisted her wrist so she was the one grabbing his wrist instead. Then she pulled him inwards forcing him to skid into her and she aimed a punch into his stomach. He deftly stopped the attack with his free hand engulfing her small fist in his larger one._

_With both their hands occupied, they were locked in that position. Sakura knew he could overpower her easily and that she had only been able to match his strength with the careful usage of her chakra. If not, she would've long buckled under his heavy weight and force. _

_Sakura's eyes widened when she felt his body suddenly accumulating chakra. She hastily kicked him and pushed herself away in the process just in time to see spikes of bones break rapidly out of his skin. Had she been near, she would've surely been impaled and died instantly. She didn't even see him perform any seals and Sakura was promptly washed with a sense of dread._

_There was no way she would be able to defeat them alone. She was going to join the others soon._

_The other Kaguya soon joined him and stood by his side. He grotesquely pulled a protruding bone out of his clan member's body and brandished it carefully. They both looked similar; white haired, thin and pale. Both were looking at her with a crazed look. It sent shivers up her spine and Sakura resisted the urge to throw up. _

_While the two regarded her like they were figuring out the best way to skin and de-bone her, Sakura noticed that the third Kaguya was missing from the scene. She felt a prickle of awareness at the back of her neck. She couldn't detect him anywhere though, for his chakra was muted to the point that it was non-existent. But she knew he was here somewhere watching her._

_She saw a muscle twitch and instantly leaped backwards. She moved hastily away from their twin attacks and tried to find a way to kill them before they killed her. They had started to use the supply of bones the earlier Kaguya had procured by throwing it at her. She had no means to dodge for the two of them had started to perform some sort of an effective combo attack that was slowly cornering her._

_When one of their weapon suddenly pierced through her neck, she exploded into a log. They started to growl and shouted obscenities, now attacking her with more vigour after locating her just a few metres away. Their aiming was precise so Sakura found herself performing the Kawarimi no Jutsu repeatedly. When she was a child, this technique had been severely taxing but constant practice had enabled her to perform this with the absolute minimum use of chakra. Unlike her other jutsu casting, she was able to perform the seals swiftly._

_However, she could only escape them with this low levelled jutsu for so long. The bones had run out so they decided to pursue her in a taijutsu fight. Their attacks were fast and abrasive and Sakura found it difficult to keep up. A foot collided with the side of her head while a fist hit her in the gut. She grunted as she flew and fell to the ground painfully. Something warm trickled down her face but she ignored it trying to pay no attention to the pain that made her skull felt like it was being cracked open._

_They came again to close in on her and she needed something to deter them. An idea came just when they were about to attack her again and she immediately gathered chakra into her fist. She slammed the ground and it shattered. Sakura jumped up using the force of a rock shooting upwards from the impact of her technique. She saw one of them falling into the crack screaming as he was mercilessly squashed from the moving boulders. Sakura herself tried hard to manoeuvre through the pelting earth, wincing when a couple of jagged rocks managed to lacerate her arms and legs. _

_In all honesty, she didn't expect that this newly discovered technique of hers would be this dangerous. She had been tentative about its use when she first came up with it, thinking that surely she would never find a use of it in the tranquil lifestyle that she led apart from showing off to the boys in her clan that she was a lot stronger than them. And she had never ever put a lot of chakra behind her fist to result a mini earthquake that she was currently experiencing. She had utilized this form of attack/defence when she was fighting in the compound but she hadn't used this much force that it was moving grounds. Now she knew why. The whole place would've collapsed under had she not been careful. _

_She felt a sharp pain in her left thigh and realized that the other living Kaguya had managed to cut her while she was distracted. She wheezed when he managed to kick her in the chest. She managed to land on a calm piece of ground when she spot him charging at her again._

"_Bitch!" He screamed._

_She didn't know how it happened. One second she was avoiding his attacks, the next, she was suspended in the air. He had managed to come close enough for him to grab her by the throat and lift her up high from the ground with one strong hand. She choked and grasped at his arm feebly. She tried to kick him but he stabbed her leg, leaving the sharp weapon in her flesh._

_Pain coursed through her body and she gave a breathless scream. Black spots started to blur into her vision as she heard him laugh, obviously deranged. She saw him slowly pulling out another bone out of his body and panicked. She needed to get away, now! But she couldn't breathe and she was choking in his hold._

_This was it. This was her end. Except, she didn't want it to be. She was deprived of oxygen and her mind wasn't thinking straight. She could only feel as her chakra rushed through her hand to form a chakra scalpel. She saw his eyes narrowed and he quickly went to stab her with the bone he pulled out of his shoulder but before he could, he had dropped her. She had swiped at him with her glowing hand and it had severed the nerves and muscles making his arm hang uselessly by his side._

"_What did you do, bitch?" He roared, glaring at her crumpled form on the ground._

_Sakura rose shakily, taking deep breaths of air while looking at him with caution. Sakura deigned him no reply. Undeterred he snarled and tried to stab her again but in one move she had severed the connections of his other arm as well. He roared again and instantly lunged at her intending to slam her with his body. Armed with her chakra scalpel, she waited until he was close enough and then slashed at his heart. His eyes widened in shock and Sakura's breathing stuttered._

_He sputtered blood into her face and died._

* * *

Cold air was slapping into her face as she felt movements of a body underneath her. Her eyes cracked a fraction open to witness a blur of green in the night and the close profile of a person. She groaned and it alerted them. She distinctly heard some voices over the rush of wind and the _thump, thump, thump _of their feet against the large surface of tree branches but she ignored it. She felt like she had been gutted and her curled position on this person's back was making it worse. She didn't have to deal with the pain for long however. She felt herself slipping back into insentience just seconds after.

…

It was now warm unlike before and the pain in her body was replaced with a sore feeling. She had managed to gain consciousness once again but felt severely exhausted that she wouldn't mind falling into the depth of darkness for the umpteenth time despite wanting to fight it.

The first thing that she registered the moment she woke up was the scent of the room. It smelled clean with a hint of disinfectant, much like the clinic she used to work in. Her eyes moved in the sockets, taking the hint of bright light behind her closed lids. The air was still and quiet.

She felt like drifting back into sleep but something was telling her to properly wake up. Just as she was about give in to her sleepy desire, she heard the soft shift of a door opening allowing the entry of fresh air and some noises from outside. She then smelled a whiff of faint perfume and heard the door closing shut. She registered faint movements and the shuffle of feet against the floor.

Her eyes opened slowly. She felt drowsy but still took the time to observe her surroundings. It was white and empty. For some reason, she had a feeling that her bed was the only thing that existed in this windowless room judging from the echo that followed the person's footsteps.

"Oh, you're awake!"

Sakura turned her head slightly to the left and finally saw a woman with neat black hair wearing a pristine white uniform. She just stared at the woman, trying to comprehend her confusing situation. She tried to sit up but frowned when her movement met resistance. She looked down at the railings of the hospital bed and found that her hands were tied to both of its sides. She tugged uselessly and just stared at it when it didn't budge.

"What happened?" She asked groggily. Sakura wasn't quite awake and felt oddly lethargic. Everything in the room seemed to tilt sideways and show up as doubles in her vision.

"You are in Konoha Hospital under strict surveillance. We found you near our border and brought you in for questioning. You will be transferred to the holding cell in a couple of hours," she supplied.

"Holding cell?" She murmured, confused. She tugged at her bounds again with no more strength than she had used before.

"Why don't you get some rest first," the woman suggested and looked down at her. Sakura wondered where and what Konoha is. She looked up into her eyes… they were red and… spinning…

She fell asleep.

* * *

_She couldn't run anymore. She was so tired. Her legs had wanted to give up a long time ago but she pushed and pushed, ignoring the burn and torture of the shock every time her feet harshly meet the ground. She had never ran this far, used up this much energy and be so, so afraid. Unable to continue running, she finally landed on the ground and dropped on her hands and knees taking big gulps of air. The mad laughter that was chasing her rang deep inside her mind and she convulsed. In her furious tremor, she had missed the silent landing a few feet away from her._

"_My, my… tired already?"_

_Sakura gasped and snapped her head up to meet the cold vicious eyes made even more threatening with the symbolic two red dots on his forehead. Sakura fell on her butt and scooted backwards pitifully, trying to put some distance between them but it was useless. He had knelt in front of her, staring at her face with a disgusting look. She leaned back but he leaned forward, grabbing her face roughly between his dirty fingers and chuckling._

"_Come now, weren't we having fun? Did I chase you all the way here for nothing?"_

_They were almost at the border of the Fire Country by now. Sakura saw the landmark signalling that she was about to enter the country's forest an hour ago before she finally succumbed to her tiredness after she thought her pursuer had finally given up. Clearly, he hadn't._

"_Please… what do you want?" Sakura whimpered when his grip tightened._

"_Ah… young Haruno… do you not know?" He grinned at her and suddenly buried his face in the juncture between her exposed neck and shoulder. She froze when she felt something wet and slimy move up and down the column of her neck. After he had licked the blood clean from her skin, he resurfaced and smirked, obviously pleased from her terrified expression._

"_You don't have to think about it so deeply. This is just basic instincts. When the weak exist, the strong ones will come out to hunt."_

_Sakura snapped out of her fear, enraged by his statement but still she quivered when he continued to speak, feeding her fear and anger._

"_But more than that, it's really all for fun and play," he grinned wildly._

"_You sick bastard!"_

_She tried to attack him but he moved and slammed her into the ground. She felt disorientated from the impact for a while. When she finally registered his smelly breath upon her face and the sharp grip he had on her bare thigh, she quickly acted. She kicked him off and sharply rolled over before he was able to stab her with his sword, welded from his bone. She got up and aimed a punch at him but he deftly blocked it and kicked her away. She staggered backwards and resisted the urge to fall. She swayed and tried to get into position despite the screaming pain in her entire body._

_She heard him laugh again._

"_Good girl. Now let's see who'll win this game."_

_It was all too fast and Sakura could barely keep up with him. Her strength had dwindled significantly and she had used up most of her chakra. She could feel that her body was about to collapse soon. _

_She sidestepped his attack and saw an opening in the form of his outstretched arm. She grabbed it and with her elbow, rammed into his shoulder. A loud pop sounded and she knew that she had managed to dislocate it. Before she could revel in the achievement, she felt herself seeing black for a second. The back of her head throbbed and somehow, she knew he had managed to land a blow on her as well. She tried to focus and realized that she was lying on her front. There was a very heavy pressure on her back. The Kaguya was sitting on her, she realized angrily._

"_I see you managed to dislocate my shoulder. I should be angry but," he leaned forward into her ears and she could feel the sharp outline of his big sweaty body suffocating her, "– it __**thrills**__ me!"_

"_Get off me, you monster," she growled, struggling underneath him. Her arms were tucked firmly underneath his legs and the side of her face was forced into the dirt by his hand. Letting go of her face, he sit up straighter and did something. She heard a hiss and then saw him in her peripheral vision moving the arm that she had just dislocated with ease. She gasped disbelievingly._

"_Shikotsumyaku," he grinned down at her, "– is a bloodline limit that allows us, the fearsome Kaguya, the ability to manipulate our skeletal structure. It's a wonderful ability and we make sure to exercise it often on our preys and enemies."_

"_What have we ever done to you? We don't deserve this!" Sakura screamed at him._

"_Everybody should know what it feels like to fear the Kaguya clan," he answered with a smile so wide it showed his ugly yellowing teeth._

"_You will pay for this," she growled._

"_Hmm, who will make us? You're the only one that's left, princess. I've made sure of it. The rest of them had been so easy to kill. Like breaking twigs!" He laughed rambunctiously._

_Sakura choked on air upon his exclamation. It both hurt and angered her how her clan had suffered just because the Kaguya clan had a sadistic tendency. Despite the emotional pain and the sudden need to cry, Sakura forcefully reigned in her tears. She will not let him think that the Haruno are entirely weak._

_It was suddenly oddly silent. The thrum of her fast beating heart and heavy breath was the only thing she heard and for a second, she feared what this meant. He was always loud, making sure that she heard every move, every laughter and every insane comment. This ominous silence struck something terrible inside her and she didn't want to find out what it meant._

"_Hmm… so why are you different?" She felt him tugged painfully into her hair. He pulled back until her neck almost folded. When he let go of her head, it collided with the ground. She gave out a shocked sound, feeling the sharp ringing and painful throb pervading her senses. He chuckled and suddenly stood up, grabbing the back of her ruined kimono to forcefully pull her up with him. He shoved her away and watched her stumble._

"_You killed quite a lot of my men by yourself. How can a woman like you manage that, hm?"_

_Sakura watched him carefully as she wiped the warm trickle of blood falling down her face. With trembling fingers, she also tried to tighten the clothes on her body seeing the way the man before him gliding his eyes on her revealed skin. There was nothing she could do with the length of it, as she had ripped off the lower part of the kimono for easy running but at least her chest can still be adequately covered. Once she was done, she felt disorientated and was seeing double of him now. It was also hard to keep her balance._

_He suddenly grinned like the devil and said, "With your death, the Haruno will be extinct. Just like the others."_

_He didn't miss the way her eyes widened and threw his head back, laughing gleefully._

"_Don't think I don't know who you are, heiress. No one is alive now except for you. Did you expect we'll let anyone live? Fuck no. It will be shameful for the Kaguya name to let a little girl like you slip past our __**bones**__!"_

_At this point, anything he said was followed by a sharp ringing in her ears. She shook her head and told herself to focus but a heavy weight was pulling her down. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, she could feel her ribs crushing her every time she inhaled. It hurts too much._

"_It's been a very fun game to play. I haven't had this much challenge from a simple girl… since ever! It's a pity, but now you will die!"_

_He rushed towards her and Sakura feebly evaded his attacks. In a way, Sakura understood the way he moved. One blow at a time, but deadly. Just one strike and he could potentially eliminate someone for good. He surely took advantage of the bulging muscles in his colossal body. Sakura was lucky that she was able to dodge him; not because she was fast, but because she was small enough._

_They exchanged blows for a while and when Sakura finally saw an opening, she flooded chakra into her fist._ _Time seemed to slow in that moment as she pulled her hand back, looking him directly in the eyes with a determined glare. She swung her fist into his gut and let loose the chakra out to meet its target, just like she did before. His eyes couldn't even widen from shock because the power of her punch had forced him to fly backwards with a surprising speed. He crashed through several sturdy trees before skidding to a stop on his back._

_Sakura breathed heavily and dropped her glowing hand. She knew she had knocked him out for good. Surely no one could stand that attack and survive. It was over. It was done. There were no more threats for her now. She was already far away from his pursuing clan anyway. She had been running continuously for half a day with him hot on her tail, gleefully calling out to her with threats to mar her face, break and pull out every single bone in her body to make chains and necklaces. _

_She was so tired and spent, and her body raged from all the injuries she sustained. The adrenaline was slowly leaving her system and she sagged towards the ground. She catalogued her injuries and used the remaining chakra she had to heal her severe injuries, just enough to stop blood loss and numb the pain._

_Just as she was about to enjoy her peace, a groan reverberated through the silent forest and she snapped her head towards the direction. He was a good distance away from her but she could still see him. The Kaguya had sat up, clutching his body painfully. Blood was spilling out of his mouth and dribbling over his bruised front. He stared almost unseeingly at her. Sakura gaped, clearly in shock. No, that punch should've killed him!_

_She saw his mouth move and despite not being able to hear him, she knew exactly what he had said,_

"_I will kill you."_

* * *

Sakura jerked awake and winced when the sudden flash of memories flooded her mind. She tried to cradle her head with her hands but since they were immobile, she contented herself by gritting her teeth and waited for the throbbing in her head to subside by its own. Her eyes burned and her heart was crushing by itself. She was aware that she was gasping, for the pooling ache in her chest made it hard for her to breathe. Warm liquid cascaded down her cheeks but she knew it wasn't blood this time. It was tears and it trailed burning path down her cheeks.

A painful sob left her as she bent forward, lying her head on a table in front of her. She rested her forehead on the cool surface and let herself wail freely. She didn't care where she was or who was watching. All that matters to her was now gone and the pain it left her was unbearable. She wanted nothing more than to curl into herself and whimper. This feeling… it was excruciating. It hurts more than being stabbed in the heart, hurts more than swallowing a cup of lava.

They were gone… all of them. She wanted to see for herself but it would only torment her soul even more. She had witnessed her family and clan falling to their unfortunate deaths. Some died quick, some excruciatingly slow. They never did have a chance against the devil spawns.

She remembered throwing a deathly blow but the Kaguya had miraculously survived. She thought she had given her all in that one last punch but turns out it wasn't enough. She could blame her emptied chakra but what difference would that make anyway? He still wasn't dead and had only sworn to end her life.

She remembered scrambling up and ran deeper into the forest, away from him and his deadly clan. He obviously didn't give chase and perhaps it was because of the paralyzing pain from her blow. She was confident that he was at least incapacitated but at the time she had felt an alarming fear of him making good of his words. She ran away with all her might, temporarily forgetting that her body was breaking apart from her injuries until her body and mind collapsed from overwhelming fear and exhaustion.

Now, she is the only Haruno left.

She wanted to believe that she would wake up soon, sweaty and panting from this hell of a nightmare. She would wake up and run outside to see that everything was just as it should be with her clan actively pursuing the day. She would then laugh, because all that happened wasn't real. It wasn't real… _this is not real._

But her limbs were bounded, her chakra was unattainable and she felt herself being watched. The bright light and stale air brought her back to the reality of the situation, reminding her that while she had survived (she should've just died with them, she thought darkly), she was still not out of trouble.

Her crying slowly lowered in volume and turned into tiny sobs. Slowly, she lifted her head back up and leaned back into her chair miserably. She saw two men staring at her apprehensively. She realized that just like before when she was in the forest, she didn't know where she was but knew that she had woken up earlier in some kind of establishment. A hospital, wasn't it? She remembered being drugged, tied up and forced to sleep.

The situation hasn't changed from before except her mind was now clear – despite clouded with turmoil and suffering – and she was bounded with something stronger than just normal ropes. Also, she could feel her chakra traveling in her veins but the amount of it was so little that she was rendered helpless. She should've recovered a decent amount of her chakra by now but it was as if she had been drained, leaving only enough for her to live.

She sniffled and turned her head to the side, trying to wipe the wetness of her face with her shoulder. She managed to get her face decently dry and then observed herself. Someone had changed her out of her torn kimono and into an ugly brown garb. Her injuries were all healed but there were distinct red marks on the visible skin. Chakra burns, she realized. Whoever had fixed her were probably not adept at healing or hadn't bothered to be careful and gentle.

She lifted her eyes up and saw two men regarding her with silent curiosity.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked with rasped voice.

She looked at them and found that they were wearing some kind of a uniform; a metal on a cloth band with a symbol that looked like an arrow attached to a spiral engraved on it with dark blue shirts and pants. An uchiwa fan was also stitched on the collar of the shirt. Both of them looked stern with dark hair, dark eyes and fair skin.

"Our identity does not concern you. State your name."

Sakura clamped her lips, worried. She didn't know them and they were currently treating her like a prisoner. Are they affiliated to the killers? What if they found out who she was and sell her off to the Kaguya clan?

"Answer me," the man who questioned her demanded when she didn't respond. He was shorter than his partner.

When she remained muted, the taller of the two addressed her in a gentler tone.

"Do you know where you are?"

Finding herself eased, however minimally, she reluctantly answered with a weak, "No…"

"Do you know what happened to you?"

She fully knew what happened to her and the reminder of it plunged her back into the memories that was far too vivid and fresh for her too handle. She paled and clammed up, feeling her breath rattling once again. Both of the men didn't miss the way she tensed and shared a look with each other.

"We found you in a near death state within the borders of Fire Country. We assume that you are civilian but the battle marks on your body indicated otherwise. Would you care to explain that?"

Her head snapped up and she almost screamed.

"F-Fire Country?"

The man raised his eyebrow and nodded, watching the girl before him stuttered in disbelief.

"What? How? I couldn't have run that far –" but then she stopped because she _did_ ran that far. Adrenaline and constant fear had pushed her far beyond than what she expected.

The Haruno compound was situated in the no man's land between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water but it was closer to the former. Usually, it would've taken a person from her clan about a day and a half to cross the border of Fire Country. She didn't remember any day or night because her memories was mostly centred on bones, blood and death. She recalled darkness of course but wasn't sure if it was due to the night time or her constant visit to the state of unconsciousness.

"Running from who? And to where?" They asked again.

Sakura ignored him biting her lips. She was far from home and the chances of anyone being left alive was close to zero. The fearsome Kaguya clan was known to leave behind no survivors, if the stories were true. They were savages and extremely dangerous; always seeking for destruction in the name of sport. But still she hoped that someone had made it out alive…

"I…" They stared intently at her and when she turned her desperate, wet green eyes on them, they weren't sure if they should feel cautious or listen to her.

"Who are you? Please, just tell me," she begged.

They didn't have the two red circles on their forehead and had different colouring than them. If they were from Fire Country, then surely they mustn't have any sort of relation with the clan that hailed from the Water Country?

"We are shinobi of Konohagakure. We belong to the Uchiha clan," the men sighed and relented. Maybe then she would be more cooperative. "Now will you tell us your name?"

Sakura had never heard of Konohagakure but she has heard of the Uchiha. Their name carried immense power. She has heard many stories – most of them frightful – about them from her fellow kinsmen and the traveling populace. They are a formidable clan, producing shinobi that are exceptionally talented and battle-oriented, and in possession of the renowned Sharingan. She didn't know if she could trust them but if they weren't killing her yet, then it was probably alright to share her name.

"My name is Sakura Haruno," she said. The name and clan were unrecognizable to them so they keep their vigil on her. She could still be an enemy despite her unknown status.

"I was running from the Kaguya clan," her lips trembled as she finally admitted to them.

The men's eyes flashed with recognition from the Kaguya name. They had heard of the favourite activity that the bone wielding clan from the Water country likes to indulge in in their past time. Still, they asked,

"Were you involved in a clan war?"

"No. We're not a shinobi clan. Some of us know the arts of shinobi but we mostly use it to defend the village, because most of us are farmers and healers – regular people. But the Kaguya clan… they attacked us," Sakura told them weakly.

"Then how did you end up all the way here from the Water Country?"

Sakura shook her head and said, "My clan is situated in the no man's lands around a day's travel from the border. I- I think I must've ran all the way here."

Ran all the way to Fire Country? Definitely not a civilian, they thought.

"Are you a kunoichi?"

"I recognize myself more of a healer but I do know how to defend myself," she frowned. This was not something she wanted to discuss at the moment. Right now, the overwhelming urge to find out what had happened to her clan in the aftermath was maddening. Is there any survivors? If she had survived than surely someone else had?

"Please, you have to let me go. I need to go back."

"I'm afraid we can't do that," they shook their heads.

"You don't understand. I need to see if my clan is safe," she cried desperately, "I have to go now!"

"Look, we understand that you're in some kind of trouble but we don't have enough information to trust you," the man sighed.

"They killed my family. They killed everyone! My clan is _massacred_. What don't you understand?!" She sobbed hysterically.

They stared at her, seemingly at loss of what to do. Her circumstances had sounded plausible enough but they had been right when they said there wasn't enough information for them to act on. A part of them were shocked, however, from her lashing out. She had told them that her clan was attacked but they didn't expect for the girl to call it a massacre. Just what exactly had she gone through? And how were they to know that this wasn't some convincing acting meant to throw their guard off. Was she actually trying to deceive them?

Suddenly, a series of knock rebounded on the door and they switched their attention to it. The handle twisted open and in stepped a man. The Uchiha in front of her immediately straightened rigidly and gave a formal bow of respect. The man nodded towards them as a sign of dismissal. They glanced at her to make sure that she was secure and would not be able to attempt an escape. Once they were satisfied they turned back towards him.

"By your leave," both Uchiha bowed again and left.

Sakura was paying her attention to the new presence in the room. He was tall with tanned skin, dark eyes and waist-length black hair styled in a centre-parted fringe that framed his face. He was wearing an attire that consists of a haori over a full-length brown and white gown, along with a simple red headband. Sakura thought that he probably hold a significant amount of power in this village judging from his traditional and official garment.

"Haruno-san, I see you have recovered well. Forgive me for holding you here like this but I hope you understand that this is only for precaution," he started. "I have heard of your story and will determined whether or not if it is indeed the truth. For your own sake I truly hope it is not a well elaborated lie."

Sakura was surprised that he knew of her identity and situation when he hadn't been inside the room with them prior. Had he been listening to them from outside? Or was there some sort of listening device or jutsu that he had utilized?

"I did not lie," Sakura attested firmly but her voice did not raise above a whisper. She was still traumatized and exhausted from everything. She hoped he understood her weak statement was due to her fatigue and not from what he was accusing her of. Everybody seemed doubtful of her and she felt like she was lost and alone in her suffering.

"My clan was killed in cold blood. Why won't you believe me?" She felt herself trembling again and tried desperately to remain calm.

He only looked at her with a small frown, unable to say more.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, raising her head to meet his dark brown eyes.

"Ah, was I being rude?" He suddenly smiled sheepishly and Sakura was surprised how the drastic change from his serious façade instantly warms his expression. Everyone had been frowning and staring at her with hard steely eyes and before being taken into Konoha, she had been soaking in thick murderous intentions it made her feel utterly despaired. Sakura didn't feel any better but it loosened her up a little bit.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he said.

"My name is Hashirama Senju."


End file.
